Instagram will ask for your birthday to let you use the app
Instagram will ask users to indicate their birth date before accessing the app.
And if they don’t feel like complying, then they won’t be able to use the service.
This is the latest attempt by the Facebook-owned app to make the platform safe for younger users.
Earlier, the social media app prevented adults from sending messages to users under 18 who don’t follow them.
Instagram also started making accounts private by default for users under the age of 16.
When one opens the Instagram app they will be asked to enter their birthday. This will appear only for those users who haven’t entered their birthday on Instagram.
According to the press release, one can be able to ignore it, but only up to a certain point, eventually, Instagram says, you’ll have to add your birthday if you want to keep using the app.
You can also manually update your birthday information on Instagram from the ‘edit profile’ section on the app.
As for users who say they are above a certain age but Instagram finds they are not then these users will be asked to verify their age through a menu of options.
This is also only for users who haven’t entered their birthday on Instagram.
Last month, Instagram gave users more control over sensitive content on the platform.
Users can choose to either see more or less sensitive content on Instagram. By default, Instagram limits the number of sensitive posts it shows but this feature lets users limit even more such content.
It’s been blurring sensitive content for years, but now if you want to see it, your birthday will have to be on file with Instagram.
The company says, in the future, it’ll use its age detection AI to sniff out people who are lying about their ages.
According to its press release, if someone says they’re above a certain age like 13 or 18, but the AI says otherwise, Instagram will have them verify their age using a variety of methods (though it doesn’t say exactly what this will look like).
Instagram’s help center makes clear that once given, there’s no way you can remove your birthday back from the company.
“Note that once you add your birthday to your profile, it can’t be removed,” warns Instagram.